LAUREL. 
U9 
laurel which was decreed to the successful general at 
the conclusion of a campaign, he bore in his hand 
a branch of the plant as a symbol of his victories, 
and entered Rome surrounded by trophies of a si- 
milar nature. The tents, the vessels, the fasces, 
and even the lances of the soldiery, were ornamented 
with the same. This laurel was also consecrated to 
Apollo, in consequence of his attachment to the 
plant after the transformation of Daphne. The an- 
tient physicians supposed it possessed of extraordi- 
nary virtues, and considered it as an universal pana- 
cea. It was probably for this reason that they adorned 
the statue of Esculapius with its leaves. From the 
custom which prevailed in some places of crowning 
the young doctors in physic with the laurel in 
berry, (bciccce lauri ,) these students were called 
Bachelors . 
This shrub is too common to require a particular 
description of its form. It is sufficient to say that 
its bark is thin and green ; its wood strong and pli- 
able; its flowers whitish-yellow, growing in little 
umbels, and supported on footstalks shooting from 
the axils of the leaves. These flowers are dioecious, 
that is to say, the males grow on one plant, while 
the females occupy another. The fruit is an oval 
berry of a blueish black colour when ripe. 
Entire forests of this species of laurel are found 
in Africa. In the temperate and even the cold parts 
of Europe it is cultivated as an ornament to our gar- 
dens, where it flowers in March and April, and ri- 
pens its berries in autumn. All parts of this tree 
